Pest birds may be a nuisance in a number of different environments. For example, pest birds may cause agricultural damage. Other birds may also be considered pest birds, such as migratory birds and flocking birds, as they may create hazardous or unwanted conditions in certain environments. For example, migratory birds, such as geese, may flock on open grounds, such as sports fields, golf courses, parks and other areas. The birds may be considered a nuisance in these environments, and in some circumstances, may be considered a health risk due to the bird excrement on the fields and in the water ways. Additional efforts may be necessary to keep such grounds clean of bird excrement and to keep birds out of such spaces. Similarly, pest birds, including migratory and flocking birds, may establish a presence on other grounds, such as airstrips. The presence of the pest birds in these environments may create dangerous conditions for landing and arriving aircraft.
As a more specific non-limiting example, common agricultural pest birds cause significant damage to several crops and reduce growers' ability to provide agricultural commodities to the market. Pest birds such as pigeons, doves, crows, sparrows, starlings, and blackbirds feed on food crops and fruits causing widespread damage. Pest birds are known to consume grain crops, such as, rice, corn, wheat, rye, legumes, and such others. The birds also feed on newly seeded and emergent crops. Additionally, pest birds also feed on all kinds of fruits including grapes, blueberries, cherries, apples, and so forth. The multiplier effects of this type of damage may be great since the agricultural sector typically provides inputs to several other sectors in the economy, such as, manufacturing, retail trade, and food services. Therefore, such crop and fruit damage caused by pest birds impact all levels of the economy, not just the individual grower.
A number of conventional methods may be used to combat the pest birds in the different environments, including, but not limited to, avicides, trapping and exclusionary fencing. However, killing pest birds has been considered ineffective and inhumane.
Other pest bird control methods include the use of traditional static bird decoys, and optical and sound signal generating devices. However, none of these methods are effective for large areas such as large fields, fruit plantations, horticulture plots. Additionally, the effectiveness of these systems rapidly decreases after installation or implementation since pest birds usually adapt quickly to most static bird decoys and other visual or sound effects of deterrent devices. Additionally, some decoy devices include hinge mechanisms for replicating flapping wing movements. However, such hinge mechanism may produce noisy, interrupted, unrealistic wing movements, which in due course of time, may be recognized by pest birds as non-threatening.
The inventor herein recognized the above problems and discloses herein a bird-scaring device including flight characteristics of a predatory bird, to dispel pest birds from crops and fruits, and thereby, reducing agricultural and economical damage. As described in detail below, the non-static nature of the bird-scaring device of the subject disclosure may be advantageous in providing a dynamic device, utilizing natural forces of the wind to rotate and move. In one approach, the bird-scaring device may include a positioning element where the height of the bird-scaring device on the positioning element is adjustable. The bird-scaring device may move in a vertical motion along the positioning element between two fastening elements or stops. Further, the positioning element may sway in the wind to provide an additional motion to the bird-scaring device. In another approach, the body may be pivotally mounted. The absence of fastening elements for wings, tail end and head end may provide smooth uninterrupted movement. Further, configuration of the components of the bird-scaring device enables easy assembly by the user. Hence, such bird-scaring devices may be cost efficient, environmentally friendly and provide a humane way to control pest birds.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.